Pages

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Light It Up Blue for Autism Awareness Blog Hop

***There's a GIVEAWAY at the end of this post!***

Hi friends! I hope you are well! By the time this post goes live, I will hopefully be on a cruise to Mexico! YAY! Let's hope this publishes!

Today's post is very near and dear to my heart. My friends Veronica and Tenia have teamed up to create an amazing event for World Autism Awareness Day. Today is the day we LIGHT IT UP BLUE! I invite you to wear some blue today in support of Autism Awareness. The blog hop is hosted on Veronica's post HERE. Please go to her blog and check out all the links, become more aware, and enter to win in the HUGE amounts of AMAZING prizes! I'm offering up a prize for the hop and TONS of great companies are offering up all sorts of amazing things!

April is Autism Awareness month. I will be donating 10% of my Just Jewelry by Ashley commission to Autism Speaks for the entire month of April. I will also donate 100% of the commission I make from any of the Autism Awareness jewelry on my Just Jewelry site, the BRACELET, EARRINGS, or CHARM.

My backstory:
Before I had Brady, I was a therapist for children with Autism. I mostly worked with kids 5 and under. I've always loved working with children. I started babysitting from a young age. I was at one point nanny and a preschool teacher. But I found my real passion in working with children on the Autism spectrum. I loved teaching them life skills, academics, social skills, and getting to be there for them! I loved being able to make a positive difference in the lives of these children that held such a special place in my heart! These kids are so special. Life is hard when you cannot think, function, or process like other people. Once you are able to understand that their behaviors come from an inability to cope, you can see people with Autism in such a different light.

To do this, society must become more aware. I'm so proud of Veronica and Tenia for putting together this blog hop to spread awareness! I'm so happy for the over 200 bloggers and crafters who are joining together to light the blogging world up blue! Here's my card for today. I might have maybe borrowed (ahem stole) some puzzle pieces from the kids to make this card. I colored them with Copics then added TONS of Stickles. The paper is from Echo Park and I used several different kinds of tiny alpha stickers to make the sentiment.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post! Today, I'd like to giveaway 3 of Just Jewelry Autism Awareness Charms to 3 people who leave comments! Just tell me how Autism has touched your life or how you heard about this hop. Giveaway will end Friday April 10 at 11:59pm. Winners will be announced on my blog and will need to contact me to claim their prize.

Have a great day, friends! Don't forget to go to Veronica's Post and check out all the fabulous creations and enter for the prizes!

LOVE the sparkly puzzle pieces! I work at a preschool and have made a connection with the autistic brother of one of our students. It took a few months before he would even look at me, but now I get big smiles every morning and even an occasional high-five! He brightens my day every day!

Thank you for everything you are doing as part of this hp to help raise awareness!! I have 2 nephews within the Autism spectrum!! Their behavior, judged without knowledge of their diagnosis, is not understood or accepted by others!! This makes me sad & I hurt for my brother and his wife!! I am proud to be a part of this hop alongside amazing people like you!! Your card is delightfully cool and I love the sparkle!!! I hope you have the greatest day!!

Hi Ashley, I saw a post on facebook digi galore about it. Not heard about the hop before this evening despite having my autism badge showing right at the top of my blog lol!

I have aspergers myself and adhd. My 8 year old son is also an aspie X I had actually posted an autism card on my blog today too with a link to the female aspie traits as they're still very much ignored by professionals and it may be useful to women seeking a diagnosis to take along to at least the first hurdle so they take you seriously and refer to the specialists :)

Love your fab card... one of the autism orgs would love it for a promo, I'm sure!! And that charm is fab!! I have friends at varying levels on the spectrum. I found this hop as most of the blogs I regularly follow are sponsors.

Love your card! I think I read abut the hop from Dana Joy's blog and thought I'd play along. I have never personally met anyone with autism in their family, but the facts I've learned today are staggering. It's an issue we should all learn more about.

I was delighted to find this blog hop in aid of Autism as our 8yo son has low spectrum autism. He is a wonderful boy, much loved by many. Your card is brilliant! Thank you to all the sponsors for supporting this cause. Thank you for helping so many others like our son.

Love the sparkly transformation of the "borrowed" puzzle pieces! My goddaughter was diagnosed 5 years ago and she has taught me so much about patience and other ways of communicating. Love your story of being a therapist and helping kids. As a pediatric nurse kids are near and dear to my heart as well. Enjoy your cruise!!

Thank you for sharing your connection with autism, and especially, for creating a most impressive card for this wonderful cause. Your jewelry and your generosity in donating to this cause: utterly heart-warming! I second Becca: you are a class act!~c~c

I love your card, and the sentiment even more ! Just great !I have a cousin with asperger, and a cousin's son with autism. My sister is mentally disabled.I am glad I found out about this blog hop on Tenia's blog.It's such a heart-warming bloghop. A big thank you and congratulations to you all !

I am sending you the hugest hugs! People like you who are enthusiastic make such a difference in the lives of my boys. They both have autism & it's because of folks like you they've come so far. I love your card (and that you snitched the puzzle pieces! lol! In the service of crafting, kids, I had to!) I'm so glad you could join in this hop that is making my heart sing :)

I'm glad you enjoy what you do. Hope you are on that cruise, enjoying it :) I heard about the hop from Tenia, and I'm a social worker so I had to participate in raising awareness :) Thank you for participating ♥

Fabulous card. Love all the sparkle and glitteriness on the puzzle pieces. Wonderful sentiment.Thanks for sharing your lovely piece of jewelry with us. My daughter who is 28 yrs old is Asperger's but we have only known about this for a very few years. I deeply regret that we did not have the resources available to us when she was small to help us understand her better. So glad for hops like this that promote awareness.Thanks for participating in this important hop!!!<3 J

Amazon Affiliate

About Me

I'm a 30-something wife and mom who loves trying out new things (to wear, to eat, to drink, to do, etc...) I love supporting local and helping others! Join me while I blog about my findings and my small efforts to help the world.